Christmas 2009

Whoa - what a Christmas! Where to begin? We had a blessed, fun and eventful Christmas. First of all, I'm so grateful for the many blessings we've had over the past year. It's hard to believe we have a baby - a true person - in our lives now. And, he's so GOOD! It has been fun for sure. Granted, he doesn't really know what is going on but it's fun nonetheless.

Brian's parents (Grandy and Memama) came to see all of us and stayed until Christmas morning. We did some last minute shopping. While I thought I was finished, I was VERY glad we went because I totally forgot about my dad. I did get him a picture framed with Troy but nothing else. I always seem to forget something these days. We also went to the Candelight service at Cornerstone. Troy made it about halfway through then decided to start "talking" during the sermon. He got to go look at the pretty paintings on the walls in the hall outside the sanctuary!

We opened a few gifts Christmas Eve since we knew Christmas morning would be a little whirlwind. It was so fun to see Troy's new stuff. He loves his jumperoo and I can hardly wait to take him riding in his new wagon. He also got a few toys, one of which is called a Chan Pie Gnon - I found it on some website as a great chew toy. I'll take a picture of it later and you can let me know what you think about it.

We also made it to my Grandmother's in Hope Hull, then to my Mom's where we spent the night. Finally we went up to B'ham to see the Johnsons, Browns and Corbitts. In B'ham, between 2 grandparents, an aunt, an uncle and 12 cousins, Troy was bounced from one person to the next. He slept almost all day Monday. We had a blast, though. I'm posting several photos...warning!

Our little fam:

Troy in his jumperoo with his new stash:

Some of the girls hanging out with Troy - this was pretty much what happened to him in B'ham. They actually would remember how "long" they held him. If one held him longer, they'd remind me and make sure I knew that they needed to hold him first when he got up from a nap, etc.

More of the girls holding him...

Colt, Mary, Rebecca and me.

I love this photo of Troy - this is SO his personality. He's so happy! And, he's begun "talking" almost all the time. I took this of him yesterday morning when he was in a great mood. He kept laughing at me.

Sacked out in his new chair:

My mom, Mary, Colt and Josh

In his Cousin Eddie cap...

The Corbitts, Johnsons and Browns: We were missing Brooke! Sad!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year tonight!

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Merry Christmas!!!

Tomorrow is the big day but I probably won't be able to post anything.
Hope you and yours has a wonderful, merry, meowy Christmas. Yes, meowy...

Please remember Christ's birthday tomorrow. What a miracle. I have tried to think about how Mary felt pregnant, not knowing what was going to happen. Faith brought she and Joseph through. What a wonderful husband he was to stand beside her while she was pregnant, not with his child. What a miracle! Among the presents, eggnog, turkey, fudge and more, we need to remember the reason for this season....and pray that it stays this way!!!

Meow many more chocolate peanut butter balls can I eat....

Off our sleigh goes tomorrow to Hope Hull, Wetumpka and then onto Birmingham for the weekend...

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Basketball and Squirrels

Troy's first basketball game photos are below. Since I'm usually the one to have amnesia about things, I have to note that I asked Brian when the next game was to take place. We split men's basketball tickets with some friends of ours. Brian said the game was "Tuesday" - that was yesterday. So, off we went to the game which was to begin at 7 pm. We get to the Coliseum and I thought it was mighty weird that we were the only ones walking in at the time. The ticket takers (what are they really called?) - said, "y'all just come in - have fun" and didn't take our tickets. If you look closely, you'll see we made it for the end of the WOMEN'S game. Good for me, I like watching women's basketball - part of my own heart! We'll be attending the Men's game next Tuesday (the 22nd). Thanks for the laugh Brian!
Singing the Auburn fight song...ya know...he has a mobile with it, too!
Checking out the game...

So if you live in, or have visited, Auburn, you know there are TONS of squirrels. I used to like them. In fact, I have boxes full of some AGD squirrel stuff. Well, we have so many squirrels in our neighborhood, too. They climb on my house. Yes ON-MY-HOUSE! It's stucco so maybe that's why? Anyway, they keep getting on the back deck. I've seen them digging in my pots in the back. I've tried on numerous occasions to get a snapshot of their devilish activities but always fail. It's like they know what I'm doing. Last weekend, I was working on replanting the pots (which I never did) when I found the below little sucker in one. Those crazy squirrels are hiding their nuts in my pots! What is up with that?

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Three Months Old

I know...it's totally cliche to say time passes quickly. I'm one of those, yes, time has passed quickly. I can hardly believe Troy is 3 months old now. He is becoming more and more fun with his lovely smiles, craning his neck just to see where Brian or I go, laughing and becoming more animated and active with his feet. He started sucking his fingers about a week or so ago and will be "talking" when his hand goes in front of his face. He'll continue his "aaahhhs" as his eyes follow his hand, usually ending cr0ss-eyed. It's so funny to me! He still despises tummy time but we make him suffer for a few minutes anyway.

Chunky legs!

He still loves his pacifier. Napping during the day can't take place in his bed, according to his cries. We go for the bouncy seat or swing. Speaking of beds, he's still not in his bed. We've kept him in the pack n play since he was born. First, we had the bassinet in there but he's outgrown that. He's now in the "insert" in the pack n play. The whole thing is in the office. We haven't kept him in our room. Sometimes I do take little naps with him and I put him on our bed. I love to see him sleep. At night, I swaddle him and put him in the pack n play. He goes to bed awake and usually quickly falls asleep.

Here are his stats:

Weight: 16 pounds, 7 ounces (nope, not a typo)

Length: 25 inches (this is the best Brian and I could do with the tape measure so it could be off)

He sleeps 10 hours at night and takes a few cat naps during the day. I think he usually eats around 6 ounces every 3 or so hours normally. Sometimes he wants to eat every 2 hours.

His eyes are still blue, his ears are beginning to stick out a little. He looks like Brian except for his eyes, ears and hands. Love it! He's such a sweet baby, too. We are hoping to take him to his first basketball game tonight. More to come on that...

The below photos are ones I took of him in his outfit KK made him. He's worn it for his one and two month photos I've taken. I couldn't button the thing in the back but I stuffed him in it anyway. That was the last time (insert tear). As I said earlier, we don't have him sleeping in his bed. Mainly because it's on the other side of the house, and we don't use it often. So, of course I put him in his bed to take his picture and he starts staring at the piping on the edge of the bumper pad. I chose the colors for his bedding because children are supposed to be drawn to bright colors. I couldn't get him to stop looking at the piping! Here I was behind the camera singing, jumping, and almost screaming to get his attention. Didn't work.

Still staring....

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Trip to Niceville

Been a busy week which is why I'm just getting around to posting.

We went to see Memama and Grandy in Niceville last weekend. Troy was a charm! He did great during the 4 hour trip down there. We stopped once to get a bite to eat. I made the mistake of feeding him a bottle in the car, you know, to move things along. Apparently that's a big NO NO! I felt like a horrible mom when the child kept spitting up...over and over and over. Of course ALL of our clothes were packed in the suitcase underneath all of the other junk we took along. So...Troy ended up with only a diaper on in the carseat. Luckily we only had about an hour left in the trip when we decided his spit-up soaked clothes had to come off. Thank the Lord for wipes! They provided a quick bath.

Anyway, we had a great time there. Brian's parents friends came over Friday night to see the little man. I really love for other people to hold him, especially to encourage him being comfortable being passed around. We saw the Cannons, Alligoods and the Ross'. The Hamiltons were at their nephew's wedding. Jeff, Amy, Jake and Brooke were also there that weekend.

We all wore our Christmas shirts and sweaters to pick out the family Christmas tree. Since our sweaters somehow disappeared, I put appliques on shirts for me and Brian last year. I also had Troy in his appliqued romper I made for the Thanksgiving photos with my side of the family last month. He did so great that weekend. He stayed in a pack in play in our room. It was the first time he's slept in the room with us. I was thinking I'd hear him grunt or move around. I never did - either I slept really good or he didn't make a peep. I think it was the latter. Brian's parents were so much fun and seem to love this child to death! It's neat to see how happy Troy is to hear their voices and see them play with him.

Troy also go to feel the sand and see the beach for the first time. On Sunday, he ate at 9 in the morning, we left for the beach, at lunch there where he fell asleep about 11:30. We finished, stuck him in the car and he didn't wake up until we got home at 4:30!!! He made up for lack of eating because he ate every 2 hours until he went to bed at 9:30. I was thinking he might wake up in the middle of the night but we didn't hear a peep until 6:30 the following morning. Nice.

We've been getting ready for our Christmas party tomorrow night. We are expecting a small crowd but I'm really looking forward to it! All I have left to make are the chocolate covered peanut butter balls....Brit has been asking about them since earlier this Fall so I feel like I should make them, too!

He'll be three months old tomorrow. He's a big, big boy! I'll post his stats (hopefully) this weekend. He's becoming more and more fun. He started laughing true laughs last weekend and loves to look at people and smile. Tummy time isn't his favorite at ALL. In fact, if he doesn't like something, it's tummy time. Colt, thankfully, lended Troy his tummy time thing that rotates and he seems to do much better on that. He wakes up when the sun comes up and goes to bed around 9 every night.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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November anyone???

Where did November go? Seriously? I don't remember much about it at all. Probably the quickest 30 days I can recall!

We had Thanksgiving, I do know that! The day flew by. I semi-conned Brian into running a Turkey Trot (3 miler) with me. I'm hoping it will become our family tradition to do so. The weather was perfect for running...the route a bit hard since it was on a hilly golf course. But, it was fun! Brian's parents came the night before so they watched Troy while we went to our run. I brined the turkey in a buttermilk and spice mix I made up the night before. Got the turkey ready for the oven and off we went! After the run, we ran home, put the turkey in the oven and got ready for our guests! My brother and sister in law came with their two children. Lunch was delicious - we had the traditional Thanksgiving meal. That afternoon our friends came over for dessert with their parents and children. It was fun!
I felt like my entire time was as follows: wake up, feed Troy, get turkey ready, go run, come home, put turkey in oven, feed Troy, get lunch stuff ready (dishes out for food, watch food, etc), feed Troy, eat turkey lunch, clean up, clean up...clean up, feed Troy, friends came over, feed Troy, clean up, sit down for a few minutes, feed Troy..........do you see a pattern here??? Ha! The only thing I wasn't able to do was take photos of the kiddos. I was (and still am) a little bummed about that. I didn't even get a photo of my dining room table...I even made placecards with my turkey placecard holders. Ugh. Oh well!
Friday we went to the Iron Bowl. I'll say I am still very proud of my team although they didn't get a "W" - it was so very exciting. Uh...and pumping in a car isn't fun!
Saturday we went over to my Mom's to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. We had just about the whole family there. Chris had open heart surgery earlier in the week so he and Jennifer weren't able to make it. But, it has been forever since we had as many people together (at least 26 years): Mamama, Crawford, Keith, Kenny, Mom, John, Mary, Josh, Colt, Evelyn, Thad, Eve, Reagan, Brian, Troy, me and for a short stint we had Rick, Mere Grace and Knox. I did get photos of the children then. It was interesting to get 6 children together for a snapshot. Out of about 200 shots I got maybe a dozen decent ones. Thank goodness for digital cameras with fast shutter speeds!
So today we leave for Niceville. It will be our first long road trip with Troy (4 hours). I'll update on how long it took us later :o)



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